I admit I do have a slight guilty pleasure when it comes to movies–besides my love of Lifetime movies on a rainy Saturday afternoon (because really, who doesn’t love those?). I have a thing for sports movies and the sad part is, the actor doesn’t even have to be hot to get me to watch it (although it does help). I think I’ve been addicted ever since I saw Rudy when I was younger.

After extensive research for my Movie Archive & Bookshelf blogs, I came across a lot of…reoccuring themes, if you will. Some are obvious. Some are just the strange way my mind works.

My Observations of Sports Themed Movies

1. Disney & Sports Flicks go together like arm, gooey chocolate brownies, and ice cream. (Oh who am I kidding, brownies go well with everything. Then again, now that I think about it, so does Disney. Hmm, good analogy).

The evidence: Tons of Disney production films–some of them blockbuster successes and cricically acclaimed. And all of them are heartwarming, or at least inspiring, and loved by pretty much everyone that saw them.

Angels in the Outfield

Invincible

Miracle

Remember the Titans

The Rookie

Glory Road

Mighty Ducks (and all their sequels)

The Greatest Game Ever Played

–And those are only the ones I used for reference on my Best Sports Movies lists. There are actually a few dozen more. Check out more Disney Movies for a complete list.

2. Baseball Movies are to A-List actors as Lifetime Movies are to has-been c-listers.

Really, big name actors seem to flock to do a baseball theme movie the way that all our old favorite 90s stars head to Lifetime or Hallmark. The lists for both guys and gals are chock full of stars, more so than any of the other sports genred films. Why is that?

It is still undecided who the Lifetime Movie champion actress of all time is but those two always seem to get top bids. And sometimes it feels like there isn’t a baseball movie that Kev isn’t in! And then I found him in a golf movie and totally freaked out. I think they should switch the game from 6 Degrees/Kevin Bacon to 6 Degrees of Sports Movies & Kevin Costner. This man can’t get enough!

The Evidence:

Bull Durham

Field of Dreams

For the Love of the Game

Tin Cup–aka the Bull Durham of Golf movies

4. If you aren’t an inspiring true story about an underdog, don’t bother.

Okay fine, you don’t have to be true. You can be a tale about a washed up old guy trying to make it. But that just represents the dream of every guy in the world who is not an athlete and they really really really wish it was a true story.

The Evidence:

Um. Pretty much every sports movie in existence.

5. Basketball Sucks.

I don’t mean really. I mean in the movie world. There is a severe shortage of basketball-themed movies. And of those that are out there, only a few are actually really good. Since this is my favorite sport (and the one that really showcases hot men!) I am very disappointed. When I did the baseball movie list I had so many great movies to choose from that I was able to make two separate lists! I could barely make one for basketball. Why is that?

The Evidence:

-I almost had to put Basketball Diaries on the list until I found The Pistol. And while I will never talk bad about a movie with Leo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg in it, I will point out that BD has very little to do with basketball. More about the dark side and drugs.

About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!

Rudy was awesome, Hoosiers was awesome and so was Bull Durham. I also like Caddy Shack, Prefonte and Remember The Tittans.
I love sports movies and like you, my favorite sport is basketball. However, there are a few good basketball movies and I will name them for you.
Hoosiers
Love and Basketball
Coach Carter
Glory Road
Fast Break
Hoop Dreams
He Got Game